WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS 2018: FINAL KM DAY 3

Day three belonged to the lowlands. A delivery of such promise from a young Belgian hotshot. A whole orange podium as a triptych of insanely strong Dutch women time- trialled to perfection on the road to Innsbruck.

Junior Men ITT

Belgian prodigy Remco Evenepoel headed to start gate as the odds on favourite to take the title and he did not disappoint. Rock solid and in perfect TT beast mode he blazed through the 27.8km coming over the line in full celebration mode to finish in 33:15 mins, 1:24 mins ahead of Luke Plapp (Australia). Italy’s Andrea Piccolo rounded out the podium

Australian youngster and dual track world champ Luke Plapp almost had his hands on a tarmac rainbow, setting the fastest time in the men's junior ITT until Belgian Remco Evenepoel came home at warp speed

Young Mr Evenepoel only switched to cycling from football in 2017. A quick look at his results for 2018 show a palmares scattered with podiums – many of them first places. He’s going to by-pass U23 racing and go straight to the WorldTour with Quick-Step Floors, and I cant think it will take him long to start adding to the Wolfpack tally. Mark the name, but don’t call him the new Eddy Merckx!

"Being described as the new Merckx is not something I want to hear. Everything is different now and every rider is different, so I don't want to be called the new Merckx. I'm the new me." (Cyclingnews)

Evenepoel, you'll hear the same question 100,000 times in the coming years.

Elite Women ITT

Holy moly, the mighty Dutch team wreathed the podium in orange with a triptych of ‘vans’. Annemiek van Vleuten retained her title with an effort that was timed to perfection as she blazed through the time checks, catching and passing her nearest competitor on the climb. As the dust settled when she came over the line, the clock showed she had the rainbows by 30 secs over a strong Anna van der Breggan – the only rider to finish within a minute the winner – with Ellen van Dijk taking the bronze. With the Dutch team in this form, I’m not ruling out a similar podium for the road race.